I have been a lurking member here for about a year, but I never really actively posted. I just got back from Aruba yesterday and felt island-homesick already so I decided to come on here and share my trip with you all. I have taken the advice of many people on here and I would like to say thank you for all the postings. This is a great website and I think a big help to all that love Aruba. I have decided to lurk no more and start contributing, hope I can be as big a help as some of you have been to me.

We were in Aruba just as Dean was passing through the caribbean sea on it's way to Jamaica. This was a trip I will never forget (not that I can forget any to this wonderful island). I have never seen waves like this in Aruba. We own at the Costa Linda and they closed the beach for two days while the waves came crashing not just onto the shore, but onto the beach, the basketball court and all the way to the towel hut. It was amazing! We took a drive along the shoreline and saw (not sure if to call them brave or crazy or both) surfboarders and people on jet-skis all along the shore riding the waves that were crashing on the beach. Dangerously high waves I might add. I have never seen the island's waters that rough on that side of the island...and this is actually the second time we have been there during an actively passing hurricane. Water came over and onto everything on the shores. The sea didn't really calm down until Thursday and even then the waves crashing on the shore knocked you down if you didn't keep your eye on the sea.
The one thing that saddened me on this trip however, is the continuing growth of the islands hotel population. There seems to be an ever increasing number of hotels and malls and other suburban swells going on. I know, they have a right to expand and grow just like every place else, but I fear that they will go too far and spoil one of the few jewels left in this world. This however seems a ways off, and maybe the people of Aruba will put a stop to all of this before it gets to far. I can only hope. It is a diamond of an island and deserves to be left uncut.

Here is a video of some of the effects of Hurricane Dean on the Costa Linda back in August. I finally got around to getting a video up...for those of you familiar with the beach there you can see the water came up past the basketball court and almost to the towel hut.

We too were on the island for Dean and flew home along it's outer bands. That was a flight from hell and will never agree to come home on a day like that again. Hopeully this never happens again, but if it does, we will remain on the island for few extra days.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I feel like I am back in Aruba...
I have been reading and enjoyng the posts on this board for quite a while. I have gotten a lot of great advice from all of you and I am so happy to finally be a contributor as well as an avid reader. Looking forward to many more postings!